Many companies find themselves struggling in these troubled economic times, and as a result are beginning to demand more concessions such as wage freezes and higher health care premiums in labor negotiations. Even companies that seem to be bringing in a healthy profit, like General Electric Co., are taking this tougher bargaining stance. Labor experts compare what is happening currently to what occurred in the 1980s. They say that management has been able to achieve an upper hand because unemployment is such a huge threat.
See "Employers Take a United Stand in Insisting on Labor Concessions", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, July 10, 2003